Weaving tufted fabric



March 5, 1940-. 1 H, MOORE Er AL 2,192,411

wEkvINe TUFTED manic original Filed Dec. 27, 1937 2 sheets-sheet 1 March 5, 1940.' J, H, MQORE E1- AL- 2,192,411

WEAVING TUFTED FABRIC original Filed Dec. 2?-, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented MarrS,- 1940 wEAvmG TUFTED FABRIC John H. Moore, Methuen,` Charles E. Jewett, North Andover, and Roy E. Burdett, Lawrence,

Mass., assignors to Pacific Mills, Lawrence,A

Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Original application December 27, 1937, Serial No. 181,776. Divided and this application May 19, 1939, Serial No. 274,608

3 claims.' (ci. 13a- 31) l are woven into the fabric with either the warp' or the filling threads and are floated for a considerable distance on the surface of the fabric.

The iioating threads are then cut and given the proper finish to produce the desired tufted effect. l Prior to our invention, the operation of cutting th'e iioating threads has been separate from the weaving process and difcult and expensive to perform because of the difliculty of severing the floating threads with the accuracy required. 20 An object of the present invention is to sever the warp floating threads as ,a part of the weaving operation. l

A further object of the invention is the provision of means associated with the pattern 25 mechanism of the loom `which operates automatically to sever the warp oating threads after they have been incorporated in the fabric and vbefore the fabric is wound ontothe take-up roll. The cutting of the floating warp threads is 30 accomplished by a series of knives which are periodically reciprocated to move under the floating threads to sever them, the movement of the knife being effected under the control of the pattern. chain or the equivalent. Such construc- 35 tion comprises a further object of the invention.

A still further object of the invention is generally to improve upon the severing of the tufted woven fabrics and mechanism for severing the floating threads. 40 Fig. 1 is a plan view, partly broken away, of a loom wherein the floating threads are woven in the fabric with the warp thread.

Fig. 2 is a front end detail view of the loomshown in Fig. 1. 45 Fig. 3 is a front elevation of a knife for severing the warp threads.

Fig. 4'is a view in side elevation of the knife shown in Figs. 2 and 3 and illustrating the manner in which the knife passes under and in con- 50 tact with the floating threads.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the floating threads are woven in the fabric with the warp threads, the floating threads being fed in with certain of the warp threads.

55 That is to say, a floating thread is disposed beside a regular warp thread so that the floating thread does not displace any warp thread. With this arrangement, the fabric shows an unbroken warp under the floating sections of the thread.

The floatingr threads are controlled by separate 5 harnesses Il) and in this instance a single shuttle loom is all that is necessary. It is evident, however, that multiple shuttle looms may be employed where necessary to produce a desired pattern or character of woven fabric. Multiple shuttles, however, are not required toproduce the tufted fabric. The arrangement of the oating sections can be anything desired; wel have herein illustrated a simple design where the floating sections are arranged in rows and sections in one row are staggered with respect to the sections in the next row.

As stated above, any type of loom may be used for the purpose. Preferably, the loom is provided with a plurality of harnesses I2 operated by the 2o usual jack levers Il which are reciprocated by a y head mechanism I6 under the control of the pattern chain I8. The loom is of the single shuttle type having a shuttle for carrying the filling.

The woven fabric passes over the breast. beam 22 around and between take up ro1ls'(not shown) and is wound upon a winding shaft in the usual manner.

'Ihe cutting mechanism for the oating sections comprises a. pair of parallel bars 24 and 26 3o disposed above the horizontal pass of the woven fabric on the breast beam 22. Each bar carries a plurality of cutting elements. Each cutting element comprises a feeler rod 28 and a vertical part or shank 30. The horizontal part rides upon or close to the exposed face of the'fabric and has a tapered end face 32 terminated in an edge 34 which can pass under the floating sections 36. A thin knife blade 3B is fastened to the feeler rod and has an inclined cutting edge 40` 40 merging into the inclined face 32 of the feeler rod. Since the floating threads lie parallel with 4the direction of movement of the fabric, the cutter mechanism is adapted to be reciprocated at right angles to the line of fabric movement to sever the oating threads.` Thus, the horizontal section of the feeler rod is moved under the float- .ing threads to raise them into loop form and carry them onto theknife 38 where they are severed.

Tn. vertical or shank part sc of the feeler rod is secured in a vertically and angularly adjustable manner by a set screw 42 in a chordal passage of a supporting collar 44 which is angularly adjustable and axially movable on one or the '55 other ofthe barsu, 'ze and is clamped. in adjusted position on the bar by a set screw 46.

The bars are provided with as many cutter ele'- ments as thereare floating sections to the fabric.

. The ends of the bars are secured to brackets bell crank lever 56 pivoted at 60 to the frame and having one end connected to a'link 62 with the end frame |).l 'I'he other arm of thebell crank lever .58 is connected through a safety spring 64 with a flexible strap or cable 66 which passes around sheaves'68 and 10 and is connected to the .jack lever 12 the reciprocation of which is under the control of the pattern chain 18,

The pattern chain is provided with a pair of projecting studs 14 and 16, of which the stud 14 eil'ects'the reciprocation of the jack lever 12 in al direction to sever the floating strands or threads and the stud 16 acts to hold the cutting elements for a short time in their forward cutting position to more perfectly execute the complete cutting ofthe oating strands. The jack lever 12 returns automatically to its initial position when free from control by the studs 14, 16. A tensile spring 18 connected with the end frame 52 and with a stationary part of the loom serves to effect the retraction. of the cutting elements with the mechanism above described.

'I'he iloating sections may be cut and formed into tufts very accurately and with little waste and during the weaving of the fabric and without adding appreciably to the cost of operation of the loom. The apparatus is simple and can be applied to almost any loom at small expense. We claim:

anyv

1. 1n a loom for weaving itufted fabric, means mechanism for severing the floating warp sections including a plurality of supporting members disposed transversely of the faceof the fabric and adjustable longitudinally of the fabric relatively to each other, cutter elements adjustably secured to said supporting members and, reciprocable transversely of the fabric to cut the floating warp sections, and means Afor reciprocating the supporting members. j v A y 2'. In a loom for weaving tufted fabric, means for weaving selected vwarp threads to form floating warp sections on the face of the fabric, and lmechanism for severing the floating warp sections includinga plurality of bars disposed trans'- versely of the face of the fabric, said bars'being adjustable relatively to each other longitudinallyv of the 'fabric to space the bars in accordance with the spacing of floating warp sections longitudinally` of the fabric, cutter` elements adjustably secured to said bars and reciprocable transversely of the fabric to cut-the floating warp sections, and pattern controlled eating the bars.

3. In/a loom for weaving tufted fabric, means -for weaving selected warp threads to form floating warp sections yon the face of the fabric, and mechanism for severing the floating warp sections including a plurality of bars disposed transversely of the face of the fabric, supporting means mechanism for recipro- `for weavingselected warpthreads to form float;` v ing warp sectic'ms on the face of the fabric, and

for said bars adjustable relatively to each other ylongitudinally of the fabric to space the bars in accordance with the spacing of the floating warp sections longitudinally ofthe fabric, cutter elements adjustably secured to said bars and reciprocable transversely of the fabric to cut the floating warp` sections, said cutter elements being secured to said bars in spaced relation in accordance with the transverse spacing ofv said float-v ing warp sections, andpattern controlled mechanism for reciprocatingthe bars.

JOHN H. MOORE. 

